Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a printer and a cut detection method that detect paper being cut with a cutter.
Related Art
Printing devices having a conveyance mechanism (e.g., platen roller and take-up top) for conveying label tape, a thermal head for printing text on the conveyed label tape, a cutter for cutting the label tape discharged from the tape exit, a cutter lever for operating the cutter, and a detection switch that operates in conjunction with the cutter lever, are known from the literature. See, for example, JP-A-H06-286228. The printing device of JP-A-H06-286228 detects that a label tape was cut by a cutter by use of a detection switch that detects the cutting operation of the cutter, and automatically starts a label printing process triggered by detection of the label tape being cut. This enables printing continuously with intervening manual cuts.
However, because the configuration described in JP-A-H06-286228 detects the label tape being cut with the cutter by detecting the cutting operation of the cutter, the detection unit (detection mechanism, i.e. the detection switch in this example) must be located near the cutter. As a result, the detection mechanism described in JP-A-H06-286228 cannot be used in a printer with a small housing, such as a mobile printer, because space is limited and the detection unit cannot be located near the cutter. Furthermore, because the detection mechanism of JP-A-H06-286228 detects operation of the cutter, it cannot be used to detect the manual cutting of the label tape with a manual cutter that does not move (a stationary blade cutter).